Conor Hourihane said Barnsley’s 1-0 home loss to Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday was probably the worst performance of the season.
The Reds were second best throughout the night and conceded in the 59th minute, meaning they stayed 13th in League One.
Hourihane said: “I am really disappointed with everything. I thought we were really poor, I'm not dressing it up in any other way.
“It's probably the worst we've played all season to my memory really, maybe Exeter away where we got beat 3-0. But I thought tonight we were really poor, really flat, couldn't string passes together.
“I’m not sure what it was. Was it a game too many for some with our busy schedule?
Did they come here and do a little bit of a job on us as well? Because obviously they're looking for the top six. I think it's probably a little bit of everything.
“I think I'll be scratching my head and wondering for a few days if I'm being honest. My biggest gripe is that every time we have that little bit of hope of maybe kicking on a little bit and getting up to a position where we can create a bit of a buzz and a bit of an excitement or whatever, we and the coaching staff group, don't quite make that step.
“Can we build on Leyton Orient and come here tonight and put in a real good performance and go again and look like a team that is moving in the right direction? We just fall back again.”
Star midfielder Patrick Kelly missed the game with a calf injury. Hourihane said he would miss the next two games but could return for the trip to Mansfield on March 14.
“We missed Pat for sure. But I think sometimes you go out there with two or three having an off night and five or six can have really good ones and they can carry you through and you can bring off the ones who had a poor night. Pretty much everyone, bar Owen Goodman, had a kind of a really flat, not usual performance tonight.”
Goalkeeper Goodman was given man of the match and some fans reacted negatively.
Hourihane said: “Owen made a couple of good saves and looked really solid. I think when he got named man of the match and then there was a couple of murmurs about, I was a little bit disappointed with that because he was really, really solid. There was nothing wrong with Owen Goodman tonight.”
Barnsley did not have a shot on target. Hourihane said: “I didn't expect it, to be honest. Didzy’s (David McGoldrick) in really good form and you can't ask him to do everything, every single game. He's going to have his off nights just as anyone else. Reyes (Cleary) is obviously playing game after game after game. He had a couple of moments maybe out of anyone, but obviously we've relied on him so much. Banksy (Scott Banks) obviously will be disappointed with his display. He's particularly been good in the home games since he's arrived at the club. He just had one of them off nights.
“I just think the attack in general in the game was just not there.”
Asked why he didn’t make changes at the break, Hourihane said: “It was 0-0 at half-time. "Obviously, the first half was a little bit uncomfortable. They had a lot of the possession, a lot of territory, but they didn’t create loads.
“We weren’t great but I didn't think there was too much to change bar the press. I thought the press was poor and we need to get that right.
“But then the second half kind of continued in the same vein.”
